Can I Make a Difference? The Role of General and Domain-specific Self-efficacy in Sustainable Consumption Decisions

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Abstract

We report a study which explored sustainable
development self-efficacy (SDSE) beliefs,
that is, domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs
concerning one’s ability to foster sustainable
development. We propose that the
following aspects be considered when
studying SDSE: Three dimensions of sustainable
development (environmental
preservation, social fairness, economic welfare)
and direct as well as indirect behaviors
influencing sustainable development. In an
online survey among Norwegian consumers
(N = 402), we measured SDSE, general selfefficacy
(GSE; Schwarzer, 1993), and two
indicators of sustainable consumption. A
factor analysis yielded four separable facets
of SDSE: The perceived ability (i) to encourage
others to act sustainably, (ii) to promote
environmental preservation by one’s
own actions and consumption decisions, (iii)
to promote social fairness and economic
welfare through one’s consumption, and (iv)
to promote social fairness and economic
welfare through one’s actions in general.
Self-efficacy concerning encouraging others
turned out to be the strongest predictor of
sustainable consumption behavior, stronger than self-efficacy concerning directly preserving
the environment. The latter was a
significant predictor only for choices of ecological
produce. GSE did not contribute to
predicting sustainable consumption. We discuss
the structure of the SDSE concept, its
role in shaping sustainable consumption decisions,
and how it might be extended in future
studies.